John edwards case - Research Paper Example

onspired to violate campaign finance laws by accepting and not disclosing hundreds of dollars in an attempt to cover Edwards’ extramarital affair and mistress’ pregnancy with his child. John Edwards was convicted on criminal charges that he broke campaign finance laws with the intention of covering up his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter. This affair and the violation of the campaign finance law had the ability to ruin his chances of winning the 2008 presidential campaign. Edwards had an obligation to the public to be present and conduct himself like a respectable public official.

He, however, engaged in activities that were unethical for the public office and his title as a lawyer. According to Rule 8.4 of the lawyer’s code of ethics, it is unethical and wrong for a lawyer to engage in misconduct as dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. It is not required that a lawyer should be practicing law during the time they engage in such conduct, since they represent the legal profession in everything they do, whether private or public (Ethics Alarms, 2010). Ethics Alarms further state that Edward repeatedly lied to the public and the media, even saying that he would willingly take a lie detector test to reveal that he is not the parent of Hunter’s child.

Data that was later proved to be true that he did father Hunter’s child. Edwards unethical behavior continued to shock the public as He attempted to avoid his responsibilities as a representative of the legal profession, candidate, father, leader, husband, and placing his Party at risk and convincing others to practice in bribery and fraud on his behalf. His unethical behavior led to his deceiving his supporters and the Democratic Party with false pretenses. According to (Cooper, 2012), ethics is critical for public officials as they have multiple roles to play and obligations and they need discretion.

Ethics helps them in the useful use of this discretion. Cooper continues to say that